This conference is made possible thanks to financial contributions of the European Commission and the Swedish Government

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1 Zachary Alpern Head of Secretariat for the Global Commission on Elections, Democracy and Security at IDEA International. He has worked with civil society organizations, the UN, International NGOs and consulting firms in Asia, The Middle East, Africa, Europe and the United States to support good governance reform and political processes. Irina Bekeshkina Iryna Bekeshkina is a director of Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation a Ukranian think tank that aims to support the Ukraine's transition towards fully functioning democracy, better governance, a market economy, and the development of civil society. Ms Bekeshkina is a sociologist and civic activist. She is a deputy Head of the Civic Counsel at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ukraine. Lise Bergh Lise Bergh is the Secretary General for the Swedish section of Amnesty International. She holds a law degree from Stockholm University and has worked with the Swedish Trade Union Confederation. She also served as Deputy Equality Ombudsman and State Secretary with responsibility for integration, equality, human rights, democracy and national minorities. Krzysztof Bobinski Krzysztof Bobinski is a member of the EaP Steering Committee and EU coordinator. He is also the Head of Unia & Polska Foundation. He is also a former Financial Times correspondent in Warsaw, publisher of Unia & Polska magazine, Associate Editor of Europe s World, political commentator as well as a contributor to Open Democracy and European Voice.

2 Stefan Eriksson Stefan Eriksson is an Ambassador at the Swedish Foreign Ministry. He has served as head of the Swedish Section Office in Minsk from and as Ambassador of Sweden to Belarus from Prior to that he served in St. Petersburg, Brussels and Moscow. Štefan Füle Štefan Füle is the European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy. Prior to this he has held numerous positions at the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs including Director of the United Nations Department, Permanent Representative to NATO, and Ambassador to the UK. Natalia Gherman Natalia Gherman is the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of the Republic of Moldova. She served as Ambassador of the Republic of Moldova to Austria, Permanent Representative to the OSCE ( ) and Ambassador to Sweden, Norway and Finland, with residence in Stockholm ( ). In June 2009 she was appointed as deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration and in November 2009, she became the chief negotiator for the EU-Moldova Association Agreement.

3 Miklós Haraszti Miklós Haraszti is a Hungarian writer, journalist, human rights advocate and university professor. He served the maximum of two terms as the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media from 2004 to A member of the Hungarian Parliament from , he then moved on to lecture on democratization and media politics at numerous universities. Igor Kogut Igor Kogut is the Chairman of the Board for the Agency for Legislative Initiatives, a Ukrainian think tank specializing in parliamentary and legislative issues. He also acts as editor-in-chief of the Parliament Journal, director of School for Professional Journalism New Ukraine, member of the Constitutional Assembly of Ukraine, member of the Coordination Council for the support of Civil Society development, and Director of the Ukrainian School of Political Studies, a joint project of the Council of Europe and the Agency for Legislative Initiatives. Since November 2010 Mr Kogut has been acting as National Coordinator for Ukraine platform of Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum, from January 2012 as co-chairman for the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum. Bernhard Knoll-Tudor Prior to joining CEU's School of Public Policy in Budapest as director of outreach, Bernhard Knoll-Tudor worked for the OSCE. He was involved in policy design and public relations, both at the level of field missions (Bosnia and Kosovo) and at the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in Warsaw. Knoll-Tudor earned a master in law at the University of Vienna and an M.A. in international relations and economics at Johns Hopkins/SAIS with a focus in IR theory (Bologna and Washington, DC). His Ph.D. (European University Institute, Florence) on the subject of United Nation governance of non-state territorial entities was published by Cambridge University Press in 2008.

4 Jana Kobzova Jana Kobzova is European Council on Foreign Relations Wider Europe Programme co-ordinator and Policy Fellow. She covers the EU s relations with its eastern neighbours including Russia, works on increasing ECFR's profile in this area and expanding the programs activities. Before joining ECFR, Jana headed the Belarus democratisation programme at the Bratislava-based Pontis Foundation between 2006 and Before that, she helped establish the Slovak branch of the European webzine Café Babel'. Her research interests include the EU s foreign policy towards the Eastern partnership countries and Russia, Central Asia and democratization in the post-soviet space.. Andriy Kulakov Andriy Kulakov is the Program Director at Internews Ukraine. Before joining Internews he worked at a local Soros charitable foundation, civil society organizations and as a journalist at several newspapers, radio and TV stations. Mr. Kulakov graduated from the National University Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and has a Master s Degree in Philosophy cum laude. He has also contributed to several online media sources as a columnist. Zhanna Litvina Zhanna Litvina is a free speech activist and Chairperson of the Belarusian Association of Journalists. She worked in both TV and Radio in and out of Belarus for over three decades which included the foundation of Radio Racyja that transmitted its programs to Belarus from abroad for several years.

5 Jeff Lovitt Jeff Lovitt is a member of the EaP Steering Committee as well as a professional in NGO management, working in policy and communications. He is Executive Director of PASOS, a network of 50 independent think-tanks spanning more than 27 countries in Europe and Central Asia. Through advocacy, projects, and standards-setting, PASOS supports independent policy centres working at the EU level, and in the wider neighbourhood of Europe and Central Asia. Jeff Lovitt was a member of the founding Steering Committee of the European Partnership for Democracy and is co-chair of the current civil Society Forum. Miklos Marschall Miklos Marschall joined Transparency International in He was appointed to his present role in 2011, which sees him lead on internal governance at Transparency International Secretariat, oversee special initiatives and supervise the International Anti-corruption Conference and the TI EU Liaison Office. He also leads on strategic interventions in response to international events and emerging situations relevant to the anti-corruption movement. Prior to joining Transparency International, Miklos was founding Executive Director of the global civil society alliance CIVICUS and has served as Deputy Mayor of Budapest, Hungary. Philip Mikos Starting at the European Commission 25 years ago Philip Miklos was Head of Unit for sustainable management of natural resources in the European Commission's Directorate General for Development from Hhe led the formulation of the EU development policies in such fields as environment, rural development, food security and agriculture. Since June 2011, he has been appointed as Head of Unit responsible for Regional Programmes in the Eastern Neighbourhood.

6 Boris Navasardian Boris Navasardian is the President of Yerevan Press Club since He is journalist with almost 40 years of professional experience. Starting his career as newspaper reporter, Boris continued it as editor, publisher, host and producer of TV shows. He participated in all 4 assemblies of the Civil Society Forum, being twice elected as CSF Steering Committee member - the first national facilitator for Armenia in 2009 and coordinator of the 1st working group in Lennart Nordfors Lennart Nordfors is the Chairman of the Swedish International Liberal Centre and a communications consultant for Gullers Group. He has previously served as Deputy Party Secretary of the Liberal Party in Sweden. Nordfors holds a doctorate in political science from Uppsala University and has authored several books. He also serves on the board of the Bertil Ohlin Institute, a liberal think tank in Stockholm. Birgitta Ohlsson Birgitta Ohlsson is the Swedish Minister for EU Affairs. She was previously a Member of Parliament as well as the Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs for the Liberal People s Party, the President of Liberala Kvinnor (Liberal Women), director of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Chair of the Liberal Youth, and founder of the feminist network Felira. She has also previous served on the board of the Swedish International Liberal Centre.

7 Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nalęcz Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz Is the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in Poland. Prior to holding this position she worked at the Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW), a Polish think-tank, holding such positions as Head of the Russian Department and Vice-President. In 2011 she was in Brussels as the OSW Permanent Representative, and was in charge of the OSW s involvement in a joint research project with the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI). She was also a member of the Steering Committee of the Civil Society Forum of the EU s Eastern Partnership ( ). Christian Strohal Ambassador Christian Strohal has served since 2008 as Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office at Geneva. His current functions include Vice-President of the UN Human Rights Council and President of the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Ivan Presniakov Ivan Presniakov is the Director of Political Process and Good Governance Programs at the Ukrainian Institute for Public Policy. He has also served as Senior Analyst of "Support to Civil Service Reform" Project at UN Development Programme (UNDP) Ukraine. Mr Strohal has been dealing with human rights issues throughout his career: He was the Director of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), from 2003 to Earlier, he was Director for Human Rights at the Austrian Ministry for Foreign Affairs and, from 1992 to 1993, Ambassador and Special Representative for the World Conference on Human Rights of the UN.

8 Richard Tibbels Richard Tibbels took up his current position as Head of the Eastern Partnership, Regional Cooperation and OSCE Division of the European External Action Service (EEAS) in September Previously he held a variety of positions in the EEAS and the European Commission s Directorate-General for External Relations dealing with the EU s Eastern and Southern neighbourhood. The first part of Richard Tibbels professional career was spent working for the Secretariat-General of the Western European Union. Lasha Tugushi Lasha Tugushi is Editor in Chief at the Newspaper Resonance, Chair of Georgian Press Association, and Professor attbilisi State University where he lectures on print media management and international conflicts. He is also Editor in Chief of English language news website Olga Stuzhinskaya Olga Stuzhinskaya is the co-founder and director of the Office for a Democratic Belarus, a Brussels based think tank, established in Stuzhinskaya is a member of the Steering Committee of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum and coordinator of Working Group 1.